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Former ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) president Bathabile Dlamini’s quest to return to the position was crushed at the finish line when she lost dismally to Sisisi Tolashe at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Dlamini, who was initially one of the favourites, eventually proved to be no contest for Tolashe after losing by a heavy margin, garnering only 170 votes.
After her National Executive Committee (NEC) was disbanded last year, Dlamini launched another campaign to return to the position which she had held for seven years.
However, it was clear from the initial branch nominations that she was facing an uphill battle. In the branch nominations Tolashe received 1729 votes with her closest challenger Thembeka Mchunu receiving 1038.
By the beginning of the conference on Friday, the writing was on the wall for Dlamini.
READ: ANC Women's League still far from bringing women together
Despite the signs of rejection from many delegates, Dlamini still took the fight to Tolashe.
Sensing that defeat was inevitable, her supporters tried to reach a last-minute deal with Mchunu to combine their numbers, which could have presented a challenge to Tolashe.
Her supporters also proposed a constitutional amendment to add the position of national chairperson, but the motion was defeated. Meanwhile, some delegates tabled a motion to have a top seven in the ANCWL to align itself with the mother body, by adding a second deputy secretary general. This was also rejected.
Several delegates who spoke to City Press indicated that the outcome of the election was all but confirmed by the reception on the first day, when the majority of the delegates attending the 13th ANCWL national conference were constantly chanting songs which endorsed Tolashe.
With the spotlight focused on the position of the president, early front runners, Tolashe and Dlamini were joined in the race by Mchunu whose campaign picked up steam three months ago.
READ: Bathabile Dlamini entering battle for ANC Women's League reopens old Nasrec wounds
However, by the time the electoral committee opened the boxes, Mchunu had overtaken Dlamini with votes to mount a strong challenge to Tolashe who has been the favourite since the race started.
Tolashe was nominated by 1564 branches while Mchunu received 796 branch nominations.
While there were not many nominations from the floor, the biggest surprise was the nomination of Dina Pule for the position of the deputy secretary general.
Pule’s announcement sparked excitement in the conference centre with the required numbers for her to qualify met with ease.
Pule, who at the time did not have enough nominations in various positions from the branch level, managed to gather more than enough support from delegates to punch her ticket to contest the position with Makoma Makhurupetje, Johanna Aphiri and Winnie Ngwenya.
In the position of deputy president, the late Tina Joematt-Pettersson appeared to be the favourite with the most branch nominations 1061 while the nearest challenger Lungi Gcabashe with 325 nominations.
However, Joematt-Petterson's death last month and the withdrawal of Sisi Ntombela from the race at the conference resulted in the emergence of two new names in Sylvia Lucas and Bernice Swarts.
But after the votes, Gcabashe proved too strong for her challenger when she received 1601 votes with Swarts getting only 1100 votes. Lucas received a meagre 62 votes.
Nokuthula Nqaba was elected as the Secretary General by beating Lydia Moroane-Zitha by 530 votes. Nqaba received 1611 while Moroane-Zitha got 1081.
In the position of treasury general, MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae was elected by an overwhelming majority with 2608 votes. She defeated Mankhetse Tlhape who got 281 votes.
